Dudley Nourse was appointed
captain and, now that Alan Melville was off the scene, Eric Rowan made
vice-captain. Manager Sid Pegler considered sending Rowan home for his
response to the crowd’s attitude at Old Trafford but Rowan apologised. He had
sat down on the pitch in protest at raucous barracking when the South
Africans were scoring slowly against Lancashire.
In truth all the tourists’ batsmen scored slowly almost right through the
tour, and Rowan was acting responsibly, given the inexperienced batting to
come.

However, on arriving home he
was presented with a letter saying that he would not be chosen for the
forthcoming tour of Australia,
either because of the Manchester incident or
because of what went on in Holland
when Rowan was left in charge of the tour party. A safer choice might have
been Jack Cheetham or even the uncapped Russell Endean. He was chosen as
wicket-keeper in preference to Bob Williams because of his superior batting
ability, but would otherwise have been South Africa’s captain in three
hockey Tests against the British touring team in August and September.

South
Africa achieved a stunning victory in the first
Test when skipper Nourse made 208 in great pain from a broken thumb before
Athol Rowan and ‘Tufty’ Mann bowled England out with a winning margin
of 71 runs. They lost the next two matches badly but at Headingley hit up 538
runs with 236 of them coming from Eric Rowan’s bat..

The touring side was badly hit
by several injuries and illnesses. Melle was out of action for six weeks
after having a hernia operation in mid-tour and Nourse, who had played on
after his injury, entered hospital after the final Test for a third operation
on his thumb, which then did not heal for a year. Athol Rowan’s bowling was
saved for the Test matches as he struggled in such pain with his right knee that
Tayfield was flown over to assist the side. His fellow spinner Mann was taken
ill soon after the Fourth Test and remained in England for a serious operation when
the tour party sailed home.

There was such doubt over the
fitness of Athol Rowan’s war-wounded leg that Hugh Tayfield was flown over to assist the side. At the end of
the tour Rowan despaired of his knee ever improving and decided to retire
from first-class cricket.

The touring side was badly hit
by other injuries and illnesses. Melle was out of action for six weeks after
having a hernia operation in mid-tour and Nourse played after breaking his
thumb three weeks before the Test matches began. He entered hospital after
the final Test for a third operation on his thumb, which then did not heal
for a year.

Mann was taken ill soon after the Fourth Test. He remained
in England
for an internal operation when the tour party sailed home but never fully
recovered and died the following July, aged 31.

Geoff Chubb, aged 40, was the oldest man in the tour group but
one of the few to remain fit throughout.

Fixtures/Results

ϯ Maidstone

D G Clark’s DESL XI

Drawn

ϯ Lee (SE
London)

Union Castle Combined XI

Drawn

ϯ Luton

Club Cricket Conference

Abandoned

Worcester

Worcestershire

Drawn

Bradford

Yorkshire

Drawn

Cambridge

Cambridge University

Drawn

Cardiff

Glamorgan

Won inns 14 r

Bristol

Gloucestershire

Drawn

Lord’s

M C C

Drawn

Oxford

Oxford University

Drawn

Trent Bridge

Nottinghamshire

Drawn

Ilford

Essex

Drawn

Kennington Oval

Surrey

Drawn

TRENT BRIDGE

ENGLANDFirst Test

WON 71 r

Northampton

Northamptonshire

Drawn

Old Trafford

Lancashire

Drawn

LORD’S

ENGLANDSecond Test

LOST 10 w

Portsmouth

Combined Services

Drawn

Sheffield

Yorkshire

Drawn

OLD TRAFFORD

ENGLANDThird Test

LOST 9 w

ϯ Glasgow

Scotland

Drawn

ϯ Belfast

Ireland

Won 8 w

ϯ Dublin

Ireland

Won inns 72 r

Derby

Derbyshire

Won 8 w

Leicester

Leicestershire

Won 6 w

HEADINGLEY

ENGLANDFourth Test

DRAWN

Taunton

Somerset

Won 24 r

Swansea

Glamorgan

Lost 64 r

Edgbaston

Warwickshire

Drawn

Hove

Sussex

Drawn

KENNINGTON OVAL

ENGLANDFifth Test

LOST 4 w

Southampton

Hampshire

Drawn

Lord’s

Middlesex

Drawn

Canterbury

Kent

Drawn

Hastings

An England XI

Drawn

ϯ Norwich

Minor Counties

Won inns 23 r

Scarborough

T N Pearce’s XI

Lost 9 r

ϯ Haarlem

Holland

Won inns 39 r

ϯ Haarlem

Holland

Won 164 r

† not first-class

Time
spent in England
before First Test:48 days

(20 April - 7 June)

Test
appearances on tour

5-Cheetham,Chubb,McCarthy,Nourse,A Rowan,E Rowan,van Ryneveld.

4-Mann,Waite

3-Fullerton,McLean

2-McGlew,Mansell

1-Endean,Melle

0-Tayfield.

Highlights

•Dudley Nourse’s thumb was broken in the
first Test at Trent
Bridge but he went on
to score 208.

•South Africa notched up 538 at
Headingley with major contributions from Mansell, van Ryneveld and McLean but
especially an innings of 236 from Eric Rowan. It was the highest South
African score against England.

•Geoff Chubb captured
5-77 at Lord’s and 6-51 at Old Trafford, and ended the series with 21
wickets.

Tour
Summary

P

W

L

D

Aban

Test Matches

5

1

3

1

-

Other first-class matches

25

4

2

19

-

ϯ Minor
matches

9

5

0

3

1

All Matches

39

10

5

23

1

Return to
South Africa

Southampton
TCape
Town

‘Winchester Castle’

The team travelled by train from Waterloo Station in London to Southampton on Thursday 20 September 1951 and
sailed on the Union-Castle steamer ‘Winchester Castle’,
bound for Cape Town, except for McCarthy (who would
be studying at Cambridge University)
and Mann (for medical treatment). Mann stayed in England for three months before
flying home.

The ship arrived at Cape Town on 4
October and sailed on to Durban.

Time away from South
Africa163 days

(6 April to 4 October)

Finances

Profit£17 500.

Published
accounts of the tour

“Noursemen
in England”by C O Medworth (Werner Laurie, 1952).

chapter 5 ‘The Draw Specialists’in “Testing Times: the story of
the men who made South African cricket”by Luke Alfred (Spearhead 2003)